Broadcasting Telecasting (July - Sept 1951)

E I N Vol. 41, No. 1 WASHINGTON, D. C, JULY 2, 1951 $7.00 A YEAR— 25c A COPY CC MOVES TO SPEED THAW Delays Allocation Hearing ETERMINED to thaw the three?ar old television freeze with ceatest possible dispatch, the FCC st Friday postponed until July 23 lie scheduled July 9 city-by-city location hearing and pondered al•rnative shortcuts toward the aulorization of perhaps 2,000 new HF and UHF stations. Plagued by a series of legal mundrums which could throw its lans into litigation, the FCC claried most of these at an all-day !ral argument last Thursday. It expected to act promptly on the uestion of legality of its fixed Ilocation plan. It will determine — ossibly this week — whether it will ursue a nation-wide fixed allocaon or a key city allocation based pon rigid engineering requirelents, such as the 180-mile cohannel separation between stations md the 70-mile adjacent channel sparation now tentatively proosed. As soon as the FCC finalizes its ourse of action it will set a startig date for the filing of new aplications to supplement the 400dd now pending. This period lust run for 60 days, by prior ommitment, and it is expected hat perhaps another 400 requests /ill be filed. Simultaneously, too, t is thought the Commission will mmediately consider pending ap■lications of existing stations for naximum power increases, and 'artially lift the ban, notably in \he territories where there are no nterference conflicts. Educational Issue 1 Inevitably interwoven into these onsiderations are the 10% reser'p.tions for noncommercial educaional stations. Recent developnents, indicating that many of the educational institutions are cooling |»ff on operation of stations of their ,iwn, are expected to stimulate a lew tack by the FCC when it finally ■onsiders the reservation plan. Support appeared to be growing ast week for a preliminary conerence of broadcast attorneys to nformally thrash out legal issues n procedures to expedite lifting of /he freeze and to confer on short■ut proposals. The ice could break this week, it >vas pointed out, should someone ile a firm suggestion which others ■ould support or modify through subsequent petitions. WKMH Dearborn, Mich., oppo nent of FCC's policy, made such an offer during Thursday's oral argument and asked FCC specifically to invite parties to file suggested expediting plans. FCC made no comment. One FCC source pointed out the successful plan probably will have to come from the industry and carry broad support. Prompt Action Seen Prompt action on the legal question is expected, most likely this week, particularly in view of the fact the ranks of both supporters and non-supporters of the FCC's authority appeared split on the various legal issues. Many quarters feel FCC must and will stand firm on its legal authority to allocate specific channels to specific communities by rule-making since several witnesses conceded during the oral argument FCC's jurisdiction in virtually all other communication services would be similarly affected. Equally significant, some point out, was the division within the Federal Communications Bar Assn., which posed the original challenge to the Commission authority on pre-determined allocation by rules. FCC questioned at length FCBA's own authority to present the challenge since its membership had not been polled on the issue. FCBA at the end of the argument, however, explained the membership had voted for the petition at its annual meeting in January 1949. Wants Final Plan Now FCBA urged FCC to make its allocation plan final now (but not by fixed rule which it held is "illegal") and to commence hearings on new applications. This would eliminate the forthcoming city-by-city hearing, it was noted. Supporters of the FCBA plea for an informal "non-rule" allocation plan stressed this method would confine litigation to a specific area rather than tie up the entire country indefinitely. They also em phasized that getting down to considering firm applications would have the effect of (1) cutting out "elaborate" alternative proposals, (2) sift out the real applicants from the many who merely filed comments because they felt it was their "last chance" under FCC's plan, and (3) bring about mutual compromises as in AM which would forestall the feared "chain reaction" of mass comparative hearings. Those supporting FCC's position did not see such an easy "out" to the mass comparative hearing problem, noting that if, as FCBA argues, all who file must be heard, the hearings would become bigger than ever. DuMont, however, has wired FCC it wants a full hearing on its plan and could not do it justice by a paper presentation (see story page 68). WKY-TV Oklahoma City also has petitioned FCC to sever from the general proceeding the Com (Continued on page 68) RADIO TOPS PAPERS RADIO consistently produced more traffic for two major Washington, D. C. stores than parallel newspaper advertising, according to a series of tests conducted by Advertising Research Bureau Inc. Moreover, radio traffic bought more goods than newspaper traffic. Studies were conducted in Woodward & Lothrop department store and Jelleff's Inc., woman's specialty store, both nationally known retailers. Arrangements were made with the cooperating stores by Mahlon Glascock, sales manager of WRC, NBC-owned Washington outlet on which all radio advertising was carried. Four Studies Made Four studies were conducted, with the stores having complete freedom in selection of items to be advertised as well as the size and placement of newspaper advertising. Normal advertising and sales procedures were used by the stores and there were no special sales or prices. In a fifth study at Brooks, women's specialty shop, radio ran a little under 2% below newspapers in percentage of dollar value of purchases but here again the value of using both newspapers and radio was demonstrated. ARBT has conducted a large number of traffic-pm-chasing tests in all parts of the nation [Broadcasting • Telecasting, May 7]. The findings point to the conclusion that large retailers haven't been using the proper advertising strategy in their radio campaigns, a fact emphasized in the 1945 findings during the Joske'c studies in San Antonio and demonstrated in perhaps a hundred ARBI studies. Four separate tests were conducted at Woodward & Lothrop's and Jelleff's. The Woodward & Lothrop tests involved nylon lingerie. The JeUeffs studies were built around women's robes and suits. Neither store has been a consistent or important user of radio advertising. Both buy heavily of newspaper space. Shortly after World War II Woodward & Lothrop ran a live symphonic series designed to emphasize the firm's prestige. In a nutshell, the tests showed these results: © Radio advertising produced In D. C. Store Tests more traffic than newspapers. # Duplicate radio-newspaper coverage was small but this traffic had a high conversion rate to sales — highest of any traffic. 0 Radio had a higher accumulative effect than newspapers, building up during the three-day test periods as newspaper traffic declined sharply after the first day. £ Consistent repetition of the same commercial message over a period of days, while a proved radio Strategy, should be used by retailers. @ Radio brought in large numbers of customer 3 who had not seen the newspaper adver.ising, indicating a separate merket which would have been lost had newspaper-only advertising been used. In one of the Jelleff's tests the study was carried over into a fourth day with no additional advertising in either newspapers or radio. Interviewers were kept in the store on the fourth day for the sole purpose of checking the accumulative effect of both newspaper and radio advertising. Radio reached its peak perform(Continued on page 89) 3RO ADCASTING Telecasting July 2, 1951 Page 2* i ■